Railroad rail-joint.



PATENTED JULY 16,- 1907.

W. H. ROTHBRMBL. RAILROAD RAIL JOINT.

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PATENTED JULY 16, 1907.

WLH. ROTHBRMEL. RAILROAD RAIL JOINT. APPLICATION FILED nov. 22, 1900.

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( UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. ROTHERMEL, OF CALCIUM, PENNSYLVANIA.

RAILROAD RAIL-JOINT.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. Ro'rnnniinn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Calcium, in the county of Berks and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Railroad Rail-Joints, of which the following is a specification.

; This invention relates to railroad rail joints, and supporting devices for the same; and its objects are to simplify and improve the construction and operation of this class of devices.

With these and other ends in view which will read- .ily appear as the nature of the invention is better consists in certain improved means for connecting the bridge, or arch with the ties.

The invention further consists in the improved construction and novel arrangement and combination of parts which will be hereinafter fully described, and particularly pointed out in the claims. I i In the accompanying drawings has been illustrated a simple and preferred form of the invention; it being, however, understood that no limitation is necessarily made to the precise structural details therein exhibited, but that changes, alterations and modifications within the scope of the invention may be resorted to, when desired. 4

In the drawings:Figure lis a top plan view, showing two ties and the rails supported thereon. Fig. 2-,is a sectional view taken on the plane indicated by the line 2-2 in Fig. 1. Fig. 3is a trans verse vertical sectional view, taken on the plane indicated by the line 33 in Fig. 1; Figs. 4, 5 and 6- are perspective detail views showing, separately and detached, the arch or bridge piece, the fastener for the same, and the clip used in connection therewith. Fig. 7-is a sectional detail view, illustrating a slight modification. Fig. 8-is a detail view, in perspective, showing the end of one of the ties.

Corresponding parts in the several figures are denoted by like characters of reference.

In carrying this invention into practical operation, metallic ties, 1, 1, are employed, said ties being in the nature of I-beams of suitable dimensions. The top flanges, 2, of the ties are provided with holes or apertures, 3, 3, for the reception of the bolts 4, 4, whereby the rails are secured in place, as will presently appear.

In laying the track, the rails 5, 5, are disposed in such a manner, relatively to the ties 1, 1, that the abutting ends of the rails will meet at a point inter- Speeification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 16, 1907.

Application filed November 22, 1906. Serial No. 344,613.

mediate two ties, and preferably at approximately equal distances from the two, as will be very clearly seen in Fig. 2 of the drawings. It is also preferred to stagger the joints, so that two rail jointsshall not occur between any two ties.

The ties between which the abutting ends of two rails meet, are connected, beneath the meeting ends of the rails, by a bridge piece or arch, 6, having a flat top portion, 7, which affords a support for the meeting ends of the rails, and provided at the ends thereof with downward-extending flanges, 8, adapted to fit snugly between the top flanges 2 and the bottom flanges 9 of the ties 1, as clearly shown in Fig. 2.

The webs, 10, of the ties abutting upon the arch or bridge piece are provided with perforations or apertures, 11, registering with similar apertures, 12, in the flanges 8 of the bridge-piece, for the passage of rightand left-threaded bolts, 13, 14, the ends of which are connected by a nut or turn-buckle, 15, in-

tel-mediate the ties. It will at once appear that, by tightening said nut or turn-buckle, the ties will be drawn up tightly against the ends of the arch or bridge piece, which spaces them apart the desired distance,

the bolts and turn-buckle serving to connect them intiinately and securely against displacement.

The meeting ends of the rails are connected with each other by means of fish-plates, 16, which are provided with flanges, 17, that rest against thebottom flanges, 18 of the rails; bolts, 19, being employed in the usual manner to connect the rails and fish-plates.

The rails are secured upon the ties by means of clips or tie-plates, 20, that engage the rail-flanges, and are provided with apertures, 21, for the passage of the bolts 4 which extend through the apertures inthe topflanges of the ties. In this manner the rails will be absolutely secured against lateral displacement, or spreading. The clips or tie-plates used in connection with the rail joints, adjacent to the fish-plates, are preferably of a slightly modified construction clearly shown in Fig. 7 of the drawings, where said clips are designated by the character 20; the said clips are here provided with upstanding flanges, 22,

engaging beneath the heads of the rails, said flanges being apertured for the passage of the connecting bolts 19. By this construction the strength of the joint will be greatly increased.

Special clips are provided to be used in connection with the rail joints and the arches or bridge-pieces 6, said clips consisting of hook-members, 23, adapted to embrace the bottom-flanges of the rails and fish-plates, together with the top-portion 7 of the arch or bridge piece, and having downward-extending flanges, 24, provided with perforations, 25, for the passage of a connecting bolt, 26, whereby the said clips may be tightly clamped in position, between the ties. By

vfor the rails which will thus be absolutely and positively prevented from spreading.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the drawings hereto annexed, the operation and advantages of this invention will be readily understood by those skilled in the art to which it appertains. The metallic ties are simple and durable, and

are provided with properly located apertures for the reception of the bolts by which, in connection with the clips or tie-plates, the rails may be readily and quickly secured upon the ties. Where the rail-joints occur, the ties are securely connected and-spaced apart by the arch or bridge-piece in connection with the bolts and turn-buckle; the bridge-piece serving essentially to support the meeting ends of the rails and to prevent them from sagging; it will thus be particularly noted that the arch or bridge-piece constitutes a tiuss whereby the downward strain of rolling stock passing over the joint is distributed over two ties; this construction being found extremely efficient. The special clips used in connection with the rail-joint not only serve to reinforce the latter, by clamping together the rail-ends, the fish-plates and the arch or bridge-piece, but said arch or bridge-piece is greatly strengthened thereby, and the turn-buckle of the connecting bolts is locked securely against turning.

Having thus described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent oi the United States:

1. A pair of metal ties having topand bottom flanges extending laterally from an intermediate web, and an arch or bridge-piece having terminal depending flanges abutting upon the webs of the ties between the topand bottom flanges of the latter.

2. A pair of metal ties having top and bottom-flanges extending laterally from an intermediate web, an arch or bridge-piece having terminal flanges abutting upon the webs of the ties, and connecting means extending through said webs and flanges.

3. A pair of metal ties having topand bottom-flanges extending laterally from an intermediate web, an arch or bridge-piece having terminal flanges abutting upon the webs of the ties, rightand left-threaded bolts extending through the webs and flanges, and a turn-buckle connecting the bolts and drawing together the ties spaced by the arch or bridgepiece.

4. In a rail joint a pair of'ties', rails supported thereon and having abutting ends meeting intermediate the ties, an arch or bridge-piece supporting the meeting ends of the rails, said arch or bridgepiece having terminal flanges abutting upon the ties, rightand left-threaded bolts extending through the ties and through the flanges of the bridge-piece, and a turn-buckle connecting the bolts.

5. A pair of ties, an arch or bridge-piece spacing the ties, rails supported upon the ties and having meeting ends supported upon the arch or bridge-piece, flanged fish-plates connecting the rail ends, and clips comprising suitably connected members having hooked portions embracing the flanges of the rails and fish-plates and the topportion of the arch or bridge-piece.

6. A pair of ties, an arch or bridge-piece spacing said ties, rails resting upon the ties and having meeting ends supported upon the bridge-piece, flanged fish-plates connecting the rail ends, rightand left-threaded bolts c0nnecting the ties with the bridge-piece, a turn-buckle connecting the bolts, clip-members having hooked portions embracing the flanges of the rails and fish-plates and the top-portion of the bridge-piece and depending flanges engaging the sides of the turnbuckle, and a bolt connecting theclip-men1bers and tightening the flanges of the latter upon the turn-buckle.

7. In a rail joint, a pair of ties having laterally extending topand bottom-flanges, an arch or bridgepiece having terminal depending flanges abutting upon the webs of the ties intermediate the topand bottom-flanges, rightand left-threaded bolts extending through the webs of the ties and the flanges of the bridge-piece, a turn-buckle conmeeting the bolts, rails resting upon the ties and having meeting ends supported upon the bridge-piece, flanged fishplates connecting the rail ends, clip-members embracing the flanges of the rails and fish-plates and the top-portion of the bridge-piece and engaging opposite sides of the turnbuckle, and a boltconnecting the clip-members.

8. In a rail joint a pair of ties, an arched spacing mem ber, rails resting upon the ties and having meeting ends supported upon the spacing member, clip-members embracing and connecting the rail flanges and the arch of the spacing member, and means connecting and tightening together the clip members.

9. In a rail joint, a pair of ties having laterally extend- Ing topand bottom-flanges, an arched spacing member having terminal flanges abutting upon the webs of the ties, connecting means including rightand left-threaded bolts and a turn-buckle, clip-members embracing the railflanges and the arch of the spacing member and including the turnbuckle between them, and a bolt connecting the clip-members.

10. Railroad ties having laterally extending top-flanges provided with apertures, bolts engaging the apertures, rails resting upon the ties and having abutting ends meeting intermediate the ties, a bridge-piece spacing the ties and supporting the meeting ends of the rails, fish-plates connecting the rail-ends, clip-members clamping together the rail-flanges, the fish-plates and the bridge-piece, and clip-plates engaging the fish-plates, said clip-plates having aperturesfor the passage of the bolts engaging the apertures in the tie-flanges and also for the passage of the bolts connecting the fish-plates with the rails. I

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM H. RO'IHERMEL.

Witnesses Gnonen W. HIMMELREICH, .Tr.', G. HENRY HEINLY. 

